A
Anonymous
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Re: Vlad the Impaler
Stoker apparently based his Dracula and Transylvanian locations on the information he had read in Baedeker travel guidebook about the region.
Vlad Tepes, son of Vlad Dracul (Vlad the Devil, or Dragon), Prince of Wallachia, was a local warlord in the region, back in the mid 15th century. He had a nasty reputation, but it was Stoker that added vampirism to the list.
Stoker was drawing on a gothic horror tradition of vampire tales that went back to 'The Vampyre', written by Lord Byron's physician, Dr Polidori, during the same summer holiday in which Mary Shelley wrote 'Frankenstein' (although her story was much, much better.
Where Polidori's Scottish Highlander, vampyre, 'Lord Ruthven,' was based on Lord Byron's character and reputation, Stoker's vampire seems to have been based on the personality of his boss, the actor-manager, Sir Henry Irving.
There was also an opera about the vampire Highland chieftain, Lord Ruthven 'The Vampire, or The Bride of The Isles' (1829), also based on Polidori's tale.
Then there was Sheridan Le Fanu's 'Carmilla' (1872), that was full of lesbian eroticism, possibly an important influence.
And, let's not forget, Thomas Preskett's, 'Varney the Vampire: Or, the Feast Of Blood' (1847), a hugely successful Gothic, sex 'n' gore, 'penny dreadful' series.
So Vlad The Impaler probably has to take second place to the "mad, bad and dangerous to know" Lord Byron the Impaler.
Only in as much as a lot of it can be traced back to Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, 'Dracula'.Detroit Bob said:Doesn't most vampire lore trail back to Vlad the Impaler?
Stoker apparently based his Dracula and Transylvanian locations on the information he had read in Baedeker travel guidebook about the region.
Vlad Tepes, son of Vlad Dracul (Vlad the Devil, or Dragon), Prince of Wallachia, was a local warlord in the region, back in the mid 15th century. He had a nasty reputation, but it was Stoker that added vampirism to the list.
Stoker was drawing on a gothic horror tradition of vampire tales that went back to 'The Vampyre', written by Lord Byron's physician, Dr Polidori, during the same summer holiday in which Mary Shelley wrote 'Frankenstein' (although her story was much, much better.
Where Polidori's Scottish Highlander, vampyre, 'Lord Ruthven,' was based on Lord Byron's character and reputation, Stoker's vampire seems to have been based on the personality of his boss, the actor-manager, Sir Henry Irving.
There was also an opera about the vampire Highland chieftain, Lord Ruthven 'The Vampire, or The Bride of The Isles' (1829), also based on Polidori's tale.
Then there was Sheridan Le Fanu's 'Carmilla' (1872), that was full of lesbian eroticism, possibly an important influence.
And, let's not forget, Thomas Preskett's, 'Varney the Vampire: Or, the Feast Of Blood' (1847), a hugely successful Gothic, sex 'n' gore, 'penny dreadful' series.
So Vlad The Impaler probably has to take second place to the "mad, bad and dangerous to know" Lord Byron the Impaler.